Disclaimer: If you can relate to any of these signs,
please do not take this feedback as an attack on your character.
This article was meant to be a self-improvement guide
for those of you who have been feeling a little stuck.
Emotional instability is characterized by fluctuating mood,
explains consultant psychiatrist Dr. Sylvia Tang.
One moment you are feeling happy and energetic,
the next, you may suddenly suffer an unexpected decline in mood.
Have you ever seen a toddler throwing a gale force temper tantrum
after his stacks of building blocks fell down,
or when a teenager slams her bedroom door
after an argument with her parents?
It is common for toddlers and teenagers to experience
such extreme feelings.
In 2016, Guyer and colleagues published an article
in the Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews scientific journal,
which noted that teens have an elevated degree of emotionality,
with more regular, strong and explosive emotions.
This is linked to the surge of hormones,
testosterone in boys
and estradiol in girls.
Chemical researcher Dr. Rashmi Patel and colleagues
stated that, apart from mental health conditions,
such as depression, anxiety disorder, borderline personality disorder
and post-traumatic stress disorder,
emotional instability can be caused by
medication, recreational drugs,
low blood sugar and pregnancy.
With that said, below are 5 signs of emotional instability.
Emotional Rollercoaster
Emotional instability may cause you to experience
a whirlwind of emotions.
It's challenging to get off that emotional rollercoaster,
when you're delighted one minute and sorrowful the next.
Your emotions appear uncontrolled and intense,
and swing back and forth for no apparent reason,
known as extreme mood swing in psychology.
According to an article written by Silver, published in 2019,
you are generally perceived as emotionally healthy
as long as your mood changes do not significantly impact your life.
However, if you have significant and regular mood swings,
this might indicate emotional instability.
Acting Impulsively
Have you been forced to move out of your house unexpectedly,
or end your long-term relationship in the spur of the moment
without any apparent reason?
In a Bustle magazine interview in 2018,
psychologist and bereavement trauma specialist
Sherry Cormier, PhD, explained that
emotional instability often results in impulsive,
unpredictable and erratic behavior.
Eventually, most young adults improve
their coping and problem solving skills
and abilities to grow out of impulsive
and emotionally unstable behavior.
For others, however, emotional instability and impulsivity
continue and worsen throughout adulthood,
because of traumatic events, illness, abuse or loss.
Unexpected Reactions
You reach home after a long commute
and you can't seem to find your keys.
Suddenly, you feel that your panic-o-meter is off the charts.
This disproportionately huge reaction
to an apparently trivial circumstance
is one of the signs of emotional instability.
Psychologist Dr. Ashley B. Hampton
told Bustle magazine in 2019
that an emotionally unstable person
has unpredictable reactions to events.
It could be as simple as someone laughing
when encountering a distressing situation.
Difficulty Calming Down
Consider a time you experienced overwhelming emotion.
For example, you and your brother were
supposed to ride the school bus together,
but he woke up late, and now you're running late for school.
You feel a sudden burst of anger and start screaming at your brother.
Psychotherapist Sheri Van Dijk,
in her article How to Calm Your Inner Storm,
explained that emotions give us valuable information,
affect our judgments and drive our behavior.
When emotions occur, we attempt to control them
through a process called emotion regulation.
People who are emotionally unstable
struggle to reach emotional equilibrium.
Regulating their emotions is difficult.
Trouble Maintaining Relationships
It may be an indication of emotional instability
if someone close to you always burns bridges
with family members or close friends.
In a research article titled
Public Health Significance of Neuroticism,
psychologist Benjamin Lahey reveals
that individuals with emotional instability
often experience impairment in their romantic relationships.
When these people become irritable,
they will choose to express their irritability towards
those most accessible to them: their partner or spouse.
Moreover, psychologist Dr. Hampton, in a Bustle magazine article,
says that emotionally unstable people
may encounter problems with people
from many spheres of life, including friendships
and relationships with co-workers.
Final Thoughts
There is no doubt that we experience a wide range of emotions in life.
Admittedly, there are ups and downs.
Still, there is a distinction between
reacting to every event in an extreme manner
and experiencing a broad range of feelings.
Having a wide range of emotions
doesn't make someone emotionally unstable,
but there are some telltale signs
when someone lacks control of their feelings
and may require professional assistance.
Can you relate to any of these signs?
Let us know in the comments.
Until next time, bye friends!